In 1961, he bought a Cadillac for $6,100 using money he gained from farm subsidies, which were intended to prop up crop prices by paying farmers not to grow crops.[2] Smith, a fourth-generation farmer, drove the Cadillac around the district as a campaign prop demonstrating the largesse of the federal government's entitlement programs, and the next year managed to win the Republican primary in the 49th District, defeating the incumbent State Senator Harold A. Jerry, Jr. Afterwards he was nicknamed sometimes as Bill "Cadillac" Smith. He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1963 to 1986, sitting in the 174th, 175th, 176th, 177th, 178th, 179th, 180th, 181st, 182nd, 183rd, 184th, 185th and 186th New York State Legislatures.
Smith led a campaign against drunk driving, which stemmed from his daughter's death in a drunk driving related incident in 1973. Smith was noted for his staunch fiscal conservatism, pushed for cost estimates on state bills, and voted against the state enrolling in Medicaid (the only member of the entire New York legislature to do so) because he believed the cost would be much more than estimated. At one point he had reached the position of deputy majority leader.
He died on March 30, 2010, at the Founders Pavilion nursing home in Corning, New York.[3]
